Small donors emerged as a financial force in Colorado’s U.S. Senate race during the first quarter, rivaling political high rollers attending expensive fundraisers.

A Denver Post analysis of contributions to candidates between January and March showed:

• The financial front-runners, Democrat U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican Jane Norton, each got about 20 percent of their money last quarter from major fundraisers where donors wrote checks for as much as $40,000.

• At the same time, both candidates saw a surge in small donations under $200 that had been the strength of their primary opponents, Democrat Andrew Romanoff and Republican Ken Buck. Overall, small donations to all candidates in the race made up almost 25 percent of the money candidates collected from individual donors in the first quarter, compared with less than 10 percent for all of last year.

• The strong small-caucus showings in March by Romanoff and Buck brought mixed fundraising results. Romanoff’s Colorado donations outpaced Bennet’s after the caucuses, but Norton took in twice as much money as Buck from Colorado donors during the same time period.

Michael Beckel, a money-in-politics analyst for the campaign research group Center for Responsive Politics, said small donors have taken center stage in pivotal U.S. Senate races across the country.

“The enthusiasm is the bottom line,” Beckel said. “People who are fired up and enthusiastic are giving money to candidates in small amounts when they might not have the ability to drop a $4,800 check.”

In Colorado, the U.S. Senate race generated almost $500,000 from unitemized donors giving less than $200 during the first quarter, almost equaling what small donors gave all of last year.

Small donors have been a staple for Romanoff and Buck, who took in $154,000 and $36,000, respectively, during the first quarter. But they emerged as significant forces for Norton, who raised $107,000 from them, and Bennet, with $173,000, last quarter.

Beckel said he believes the caucuses may also have spurred the increase in smaller donations.

“When you have people coming out for the caucuses, you are tapping a universe of people who want to be engaged in the political process and making a small donation is another way to be engaged,” he said.

“A lot of undercurrents”

Romanoff’s campaign attributed the increase to “small-dollar” events such as house parties and sales of campaign paraphernalia such as T-shirts and bumper stickers, said spokesman Roy Teicher.

More than 30 percent of Romanoff’s money has come from small donors since the campaign began, the highest percentage among major candidates.

Trevor Kincaid, spokesman for Bennet, said the campaign made a push for donations through the Internet and held more house parties that solicited $25 donations.

“We’re real happy with what we’re seeing,” Kincaid said.

But Bennet and Norton also relied on large, marquee fundraisers for 20 percent of their money.

“The interesting thing about Colorado is there are a lot of undercurrents,” Beckel said.

Bennet got $244,000 from a joint fundraising effort in February featuring President Barack Obama. Donors gave as much as $40,000 because they could split the money between Bennet’s campaign, the Colorado Democratic Party and the Democratic National Senatorial Committee. He also got $31,000 from another joint fundraising committee sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis.

Loaning themselves money

Kincaid said Bennet’s fundraisers attracted large and small donors and did not include any special-interest political action committees. Obama has a policy forbidding such donations at his appearances.

Norton took in about $159,000 from a joint fundraiser involving six other Republican U.S. Senate candidates in swing states.

The effort raised $1.24 million. About half the money came from officials with a Wall Street hedge fund, Elliott Management, and its affiliated companies, the reports showed. Many of the donors gave $33,600 each, or the equivalent of the maximum $4,800 to each candidate.

Paul Singer, founder of the fund, has been critical of some of the proposed Wall Street reform measures Bennet has backed.

Norton also got money from Republican Sen. John McCain donors from Arizona. Norton spokeswoman Cinamon Watson said those are people who give to many different Republican candidates.

The biggest influx of money for Buck and the former Republican candidate Tom Wiens came from the candidates themselves.

Buck loaned the campaign $100,000, while Wiens, who has since dropped out of the race, loaned or guaranteed loans totaling $600,000 during the quarter.

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